Darren Obbard is on BlueskyDay24: Our last UK #Drosophila #Advent entry is Cacoxenus indagator! Also in the #Steganinae, this handsome fly lays its eggs in the nests of the solitary Osmia mason bees, where they develop as (klepto)parasites https://www.wildbienen.de/wbi-p831.htm . A couple of larvae don’t kill the bee, but it can’t survive with several http://dx.doi.org/10.21521/mw.5559 http://dx.doi.org/10.21521/mw.5559 . The challenge of escaping the sealed brood cell is huge, and they are affectionately known as Houdini flies https://resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-3032.2010.00764.x
Cacoxenus indagator sitting in the mouth of a cane in a 'bee hotel', where they can be found in very large numbers (early May, in the UK)
#Drosophila #Cacoxenus #Diptera #Osmia #Bee #Hymenoptera #Kleptoparasite #Entomology #Macro #MacroPhotography
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Robin Beaven